A federal prosecutor asked a federal judge yesterday to rule that when Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, a reputed official of Al Qaeda, stabbed a jail guard in late 2000, the act was related to terrorism and made Mr. Salim liable for a term of life imprisonment. The prosecutor, Robert Buehler, said that Mr. Salim, 44, who is accused of being a top aide to Osama bin Laden, was trying to take hostages and win the release of other terrorism suspects when he stabbed the guard. If the judge does not agree, Mr. Salim, who has pleaded guilty to the stabbing, could receive 14 to 17 years. His lawyer, Richard B. Lind, said that Mr. Salim never made hostage demands or sought to free other prisoners. Benjamin Weiser (NYT)